Confusion weakened her smirk.
Shepherd started purring, his big hands kneading the muscles atop her thighs.
Closing her eyes and leaning back, Claire let out a shaky breath. “Maryanne was right. I have it better than everyone else in Thólos. I am kept warm. I eat great food. You have created an alternate reality for me filled with distractions, including time with my friend whom I know you dislike, and pictures of the people I care about so I won’t worry over them.”
Shepherd grunted. “You did not make a point in your statement.”
Dark lashes lifted and Claire looked at the man whose face hovered so near her own. “Do you have any idea how hard it is for an Omega to ignore the call of her Alpha? It’s torture. It physically makes one feel as if their skin is peeling off. Then there is the fear, not only of the searching mate but of oneself. You hear things... there are tactile hallucinations. Your mind rebels against your wishes. You become powerless.”
Heartbreak lay in her eyes. “The first time I escaped I would have sworn you were watching me from every shadow. I woke screaming each night. Every time you weren’t there, I felt betrayed, even though I had run from you. My second lapse of freedom, I wandered Thólos and felt nothing. There was no pain, there were no dreams. I was empty—that in its own way was hell. But, day in and day out, I was searching for something, and every day I would get a little closer to the Citadel.” Claire shook her head as the truth had only just dawned on her. “I did not even realize that until now.”
Shepherd’s eyes were glowing as he soaked in every word like it was vital, so still it would have frightened her in the early days.
Claire touched a slightly puckered scar on his cheek. “I cannot paint this expression. That right there is the enigma, isn’t it?”
Shepherd wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her to the end of the seat so their bodies could be flush. “Tell me more, little one. I want to hear more.”
There was one more thing she could say that would affect him.
“I can’t live like this.” She studied his eyes, trying to capture the image in her mind. “I need to go outside. I need to taste fresh air.”
“No.” Shepherd let her go, stood, and moved away, dismissing the conversation, leaving her disappointed and awkward.
Already pulling out the handcuff, he waited near the door, silently signaling their time in the room was at an end.
“I give you my word I won’t try to escape,” she offered softly, seeing his head fractionally turn her way at the confession. “There are too many lives at stake.”
Cocking his head, he asked, “Is that the only reason you would stay?”
All warfare is based on deception. –Sun Tzu
Fisting her hands in her skirt, Claire stood and went to him so he might chain her. “No, it’s not the only reason.”
Shepherd watched her hold out her wrist for him, the man reached out a hand to ever so softly run the back of his fingers over her delicate skin.
While she stood obediently, he spoke again, pocketing the handcuff and leaving her arm free. “You are asking for my trust when you have not earned it.”
Claire did not so much as blink an eye. “You ask me for the same thing daily.”Chapter 3His Omega’s cheeks were pink and lovely from her exertion trying to match his larger steps, but it was the flatness of her eyes Shepherd did not like. They turned another corner, walking down the hall that led to his quarters, no soul in sight, as he had ordered all his men to vacate the halls so his Omega would be left alone.
There was no handcuff between them, an act Shepherd felt deserved a great reward, but Claire seemed to not recognize his generosity on the topic. She’d hardly even looked around, not that there was much to see.
She was so unhappy...
His mate reminded him of a fish in a bowl, staring vacantly at a world she would never be able to breathe in. It was clear from her end of the link that there was no pleasure in it for her, that the walk was unwelcome—that she felt more trapped without the chain than she had felt for weeks locked away in his den.
He wondered if she was punishing herself again, if that was what made her cling to his arm when she was miserable. Or, if it was some test. Shepherd did not ask. Instead he stayed close, looking over his domain, measuring what might be a threat, what waited around every corner, observing those stark halls in a tactical way she never could.
But this walk was not working. He pulled her another direction, and punched a code into a steel door. It opened, and though there was no sky or view, icy wind blasted their way.